Danganronpa: Algorithmic Alteration

by Otterplay

A Danganronpa SYOC set in space. Ultimates are trapped on a space station, forced to participate in a killing game to try and escape. But not everything is what it seems to be. Who can you trust?

2. Cosmic Overture (Part 2)

Prologue: Cosmic Overture (Part 2)

---

Warning: This is a Danganronpa fic. There's going to be a lot of violence, gore, and blood. And maybe a few other things. You've been warned (somewhat)

---

Plip. Plip. Plip.

The only sound that could be heard was the sound of running water. And that's exactly the sound that woke up the man resting on the floor. Slowly, they got up.

"What…?" He felt himself become disoriented from a migraine, as he tried to regain all of his senses. He placed his hand against the wall for support, turning his attention towards the source of the sound.

After stumbling for a bit, he finally found it behind some curtains. It seemed to be water leaking from a shower. Stepping inside, he shut it off for good, shaking his head. "Where…?" Now that what was answered, it was time to move onto the next question. The migraine was mostly gone now, so his mind was more clear.

The first thought that came to his mind was that this was his friend's doing. Wouldn't be the first time he found himself in a situation like this. In fact, the very first thing he did was check the door leading to the exit. And there was no door knob. "Same trick again." He didn't really seem to mind at this point. The only problem… He knocked on the door, only to hear a metallic sound. "Can't dig my way out this time." In fact, all the walls were made of metal. Placing a hand on his hip, he smiled. "Seems they've really outdone themselves this time."

He took a deep breath, remaining calm and collected. And while he did that, it was time to go over his design.

The first thing one would take notice of is his translucent blue eyes. To contrast that, he had crimson red hair. He had freckles on his nose, and stood at 5'7". He was more on the skinny side, but not by much. Around his wrist was a watch.

He wore a white dress shirt with a red tie around it. Over his shirt, he had a black blazer with some fancy embroidery on it. He had on some grey slacks, some black crew socks, and some brown loafers. Where there would normally be a belt, was instead replaced entirely by a rope around his waist. Lastly, he had a small coin pouch tied to his waist. Didn't seem like it could carry too much, but hey, extra pocket space.

Given that the door wasn't going to give way anytime soon, he got to thinking about what else he could do. "Let's see…" Taking a better look around, he knew what kind of room he was in. There were showers everywhere, so he had an abundance of water. And he knew it was running because of the noise from earlier.

The other thing he noted was that the door had a scanner next to it. "Hmm…"

One by one, he moved into each shower, turning on the water. He had nothing to carry the water over to the scanner, but his best bet was to short circuit it somehow.

However, while checking the showers, he was shocked to find that it had an occupant. Or… It had two occupants. Luckily both were fully clothed, and seemed to be in the same state he was only mere moments ago. "Hey!" He knelt down to try and stir the boy awake. "Are you alright?"

After a few seconds, the boy finally started to awake. Once his eyes were focused, they landed on the other man, momentarily panicking before a different voice took over.

"Leave him alone!" The voice of a girl yelled out.

"H-huh?" He didn't see any girl. Following the movement he saw, he was met face to face with a doll, glaring at him. "Don't touch the master!"

The man took a few steps back, because hey a doll was talking to him. "I was just making sure he was alright." His attention shifted back over to the boy, who seemed completely fine.

The young man in question was thin, although he wasn't a twig. He just didn't really have any muscles, and had long arms. Despite that, he was only 5'6". His skin was extremely pale. For eye colour, he had red eyes that seemed a bit distant. As if he wasn't actually there. He had dirty blonde hair that had a somewhat long shaggy mop style to it. There seemed to be something off about his neck, but it was hard to tell. Next, he wore black eyeliner on his eyelashes. Around his wrist was a watch.

He wore a high collared, button down, black shirt with a white t-shirt peeking underneath. He wore black pants with grey stripes. He wore black ankle-socks with black loafers over his feet. Lastly, on top of his head, he wore a white fedora with a single gold star on the front of it.

"Are you alr-" The man was trying to say, but he got cut off.

"Hey!" The doll called out again. "Don't just ignore me! This is discrimination!"

Right. The doll. Looking at her appearance, she was only 2'6". Her skin was an ivory tone, but it didn't look like it was made from actual ivory. Her hair was black with bangs at the front. The hair stopped roughly an inch above her shoulders. The doll had hazel coloured glass eyes. She wore a sleeveless dress with blue and white vertical stripes on it. Although the dress has a full-length skirt, white pantalettes may be seen on her legs. Draped around her shoulders, the doll wore a black cloak. Lastly, she had white stockings and black mary-janes on her feet. Similar to the boy, she also had a watch around her wrist, but it was smaller, and didn't seem functional. More than likely just there to match the boy.

Spending a few more seconds looking at the two of them, the man resigned to what he had to do. "Are the two of you alright?" He extended his hand to the boy, who was still on the floor.

Looking at it for a few seconds, he finally grabbed it.

Pulling him up onto his feet, the man placed a hand on his hip. "Do you know why we're here?" He knew he probably wasn't going to get an answer from them, but it was worth a try.

"Nope!" The doll quickly answered. "We just woke up here, but I can't believe the master would take me to the showers." She crossed her arms.

Did the boy not talk…? He was going to need some answers quickly. "Could I have both of your names?" He wouldn't want to upset the doll, so might as well include her as well.

Finally, some recognition. "You've got it!" She doll pointed to herself. ."I'm Dolly, made with the best material the world over. And you can call me the Ultimate Doll!"

Ultimate? He eyed the man, quickly piecing together. "Then he's the Ultimate Ventriloquist, isn't he?"

"Ah!" Dolly panicked slightly before turning to the boy. "He's onto us!"

The boy remained expressionless, only glancing over to look at the other person in the room.

He let out a small laugh. Seems they could be a comedy duo. "Alright, I'll go next." It was weird to cut away to himself without the other boy's name, but it felt right. "The name is Gemini Strela." He adjusted the pouch that was tied to the rope he had. "And I'm the Ultimate Escapist."

"Oh!" Dolly called out, looking over to the door. "Then you know how to leave?"

Glancing to the side, he looked over at the sole door to this room. "I haven't tried. I found you two here, so I thought I'd worry about you two first." He couldn't let himself slip and mention only the boy. "What's his name by the way?"

Turning to face the boy who was controlling her, she answered. "Oh, that's master! But only I can call him that, as for his name. He's Benjamin Mason!" She introduced it with a bit of flair in her voice. "This is where I'd reveal his talent but you ruined the surprise." Taking a second longer to look at the boy, she shook her head. "Not that there was much surprise to begin with."

Alright, perfect. He had both of their names. "Alright, I think we can work on a way out of here now." He offered his hand to the doll.

She spent some time looking at it before grabbing onto it. "Don't mind if I do."

This was weird but he had dealt with weirder things! He shook her hand. "I checked the door already." More so gave it a passing glance. "It seems to be metal, so I don't think escaping from there will be easy unless we can pry it open."

"But have you pried?" Dolly remarked.

He blinked a few times before realising it was a pun. "Nice one. But no, I haven't tried." He looked around the area for anything that might do the trick, but none of the showers had anything of use.

The entire time, Benjamin and Dolly were following him. "Find anything, pretty boy?" Dolly called out to him.

He wasn't sure how he felt about the doll calling him that, but he wasn't going to turn it down. "No, nothing of the sort." He brought a hand to his chin to think. "And I don't see any visible vents we could use. The only other way to leave this room is through the drainage, but that's not going to do us any good." He looked up at the ceiling. "We could try and break open a panel, but it all looks metallic."

"I've got it!" Dolly blurted out, coming up with the best solution known to man. "Wait!"

The escapist looked over at her. "Yeah, I'm waiting."

"No." She deadpanned. "That's the solution. Wait."

He… wasn't following. "Huh?"

The doll shrugged. "I'm not sure if we can escape right now, so shouldn't we wait to see if anything happens." The duo walked over to the door. "There's a scanner here, but I don't think we can do anything with it yet." She turned to look at Benjamin. "Master! Try and see if you can do anything."

Without making any changes to his expression, he moved over to the scanner and tried the watch, but to no effect.

"Yup." She shook her head before looking over at Gemini. "Seems we're stuck here."

Stuck here… the idea of it was obscure. "For as long as I've known myself…" He placed a hand on his hip. "There hasn't been a place that could contain me." He flashed a smile. "Give me ten minutes and a spoon, and I'll get us out of here."

The doll spent a few seconds looking around before flailing her arms around. "What spoon?!"

"Trust." Was all he said as he got down on his knees and began to search for literally anything. It didn't need to be a spoon. Anything would do. It's just that luck didn't seem to be on his side this time.

---

?

Click

It didn't work. No matter how many times the button was pressed, it didn't turn on. "What the hell…" The voice of a girl mumbled out. "Turn on." She clicked the button several different times, but the screen refused to turn on. "Ugh…" She got off the chair she was sitting on, looking around the room. All these monitors, and she couldn't do anything about them. The power had to be out or something. Which made what they wanted to do pointless… "It's fine." She lied to herself, turning to look around the room. Someone else had been here. Awake. Guess she could ask them what was going on.

Although, before she got on to do that, it was time to describe what she looked like. The girl was rather short, standing at only 5'2", which surprisingly wasn't even the second shortest person so far. She looked far younger than she was, but that might have just been because of her stunted height. From the looks of it, she used many different beauty products. Next, she had purple eyes.

They had blonde hair with one of the strands being an electric purple, with green on her bangs. The bangs were cut pretty evenly, almost as if to frame her part of their face. Her hair was short, being done in a side ponytail on the right side that was also on the short side. On the right side, below their lip, there was a beauty mark.

For what she was wearing, she had on a large white coat that reached to about her knees, probably a size or two too big. They wore black shorts that you could barely make out under the white coat. The white coat was fairly bulky, with four pockets on the front and back. Hanging loosely to the sides were the straps to tighten the hood. Not only that, but the straps on the arms hung loosely too. The pockets of the coat were black, and there was some black on the arm portions. Around the edge of the coat were various glitchy symbols done in purple and green. It was hard to see because their coat covered most of their arm, but they had a watch around their wrist. They wore tech looking socks that end right below the knee, as well as large shoes that are light purple and white. In her hair, she had a small white clip. Lastly, she had two star shaped light bands as earrings.

Stepping away from the computer monitor she had been sitting down at, she went off to find the other person she was with. "Hello?" She called out. Although, she seemed to be hidden from the time being.

After a few seconds, another figure popped out, tangled in wires. "Yes?" She smiled.

The short girl looked at her for a few seconds before smiling. "What… are you doing?"

Looking to the right, she thought for a moment. "Was just trying to follow the wires. See if they lead anywhere!" The girl said with absolute confidence that it would.

"Right." Dumbest thing they had heard so far.

The girl wrapped around in wire slowly broke away from it, completely unscathed. Not that the wires would have done anything. She had a slight muscular build, showing that she was the very least athletic. She stood at 5'6", which was still taller than the other girl. She had brown skin with bright lime green eyes filled with curiosity. On her face was a bright smile which didn't seem like it was going anywhere any time soon. The nature behind the smile was unknown, but that wasn't important.

She had shoulder length white hair tied into two small buns with red ties. Two locks of the hair were left out to frame either side of her face. On top of her head, she had a heart shaped ahoge. On her left upper forearm, she had a tattoo of the number seven in roman numerals. Around her wrist, somewhat tangled up with some more wires, was a watch.

For her outfit, she had on a loose white low-cut tank top over a red camisole. The camisole was tucked into a pair of cuffed black denim shorts. She wore her favourite pair of shoes, which were beat up hightops that had definitely been with her for years. Around her body, there were several different bandaids, probably from the multitude of injuries she had received her entire life.

"Did you find anything?" She seemed excited at the prospect of what this room had to offer.

The shorter girl shook her head. "No, and I doubt you found anything either."

Pulling out a random wire, she twirled it around. "I found this so I unplugged it, it didn't seem important."

It could have been the reason the monitor didn't work, but from the looks of the wire, it wasn't attached to anything worthwhile. "You're probably right."

"Say!" The other girl called out. "I never got your name! What is it?"

They didn't really like her energy, but decided to at least attempt to play along with it. "Shouldn't you introduce yourself first?"

Well that was fair. "Got it!" Unwrapping the rest of the wires off her, she took a step forward. She placed a hand on her hip. "I'm Lakshmi Krishna, but all my friends call me Laki. And I've been honoured to receive the title of Ultimate Lucky Student!"

"Luck isn't really a talent." They shook their head, a cocky smile appearing on her face. "Seems like it just landed on you."

"Yeah! Exactly!" She leaned forward, a sparkle in her eyes. "Isn't that what makes it such a cool talent?"

"Whatever you say." As for herself, she was going to introduce herself. "My talent is much different from yours. Ultimate Computer Security Spec-"

"That's too long."

Oh, she was going to be like this. "At least mine is interesting. Ultimate Computer Security Specialist." It was her title, so she was allowed to be proud of it. "As for my name, it's Lorelei Kaiser."

Thinking for a moment, Laki shook her head. "That talent would be so cool!" Here came the other part. "If you dropped the computer part. A security specialist sounds interesting!"

In other words, she was boring. Lorelei narrowed her eyes. "What does a lucky student like yourself even do, then?"

"Not die."

"I do that too." Lorelei glanced off to the side. "From the looks of this room, the power is off, so we won't be able to get the computers working."

"The computers aren't working?" Seems Laki only caught half of that. "Have you tried turning it on and off again?"

Lorelei spent a good five seconds looking at her. "Were you born stupid?"

"Yes!" Zero hesitation.

So this is what she was dealing with. "Go play with the wires again, I'm sure you'll find a way to help."

She had no objections, and eagerly dove back into the wires from before.

Now that she was alone, she could work at her own pace. Lorelei made their way over to the door to the room. Tapping on it, she could confirm it was metallic. "And no lock." Her eyes moved to the scanner next to the door. "Easy."

Easy. Except for the first step. She couldn't get the panel off the wall ."Hey! Lakshmi!" Couldn't even give her the shortened name? "I need you to find me something?"

"Yes?" She called out, tangled in a new mess of wires.

Looking at her like an idiot, the computer girl shook her head. "Help me look for any tools. I think if we can get the panel out, we can leave this room."

"Hmm… Are you sure that's the exit?" She nudged her head in the other direction, given her arms were tangled. "There's a second door."

Second… The computer expert looked at the back of the room, and sure enough, there was a second door. Except it had the same issues. No doorknob. "Everything in this room is electronical." Which would make her life much easier, if anything was working right now. "Find any power switches?"

Laki tilted her head to the side. "Not really, no."

Which meant whatever they needed was in a different room. Which also meant they were probably stuck here until the power came on. "Might as well make yourself comfortable. We're stuck here." She placed a hand on her hip, rolling her eyes.

"Oh! I'm already pretty comfortable." Laki replied, looking through the various things the room had to offer. "You should join me." Seems she had gone messing with some of the monitors in the room.

Looking at her, Lorelei could only let out a sigh of annoyance. This wasn't even the type of person that was fun to mess with.

---

?

It was an eerie feeling, waking up in a place you didn't remember. With only one other person with you. All while the thoughts in their mind ran rampant. "I…" A soft voice called out. The face it belonged to was unknown, given that it was obscured. Looking around the surrounding area he had found himself in, it seemed to be a cafeteria of sorts. Several different tables lined up the room with benches on both sides. At the back, there seemed to be a serving area, but it was closed.

But none of that was important, because the most important thing was the person in the room with him. It was a girl sitting down at a table. She had a rather calming aura to her. The only problem is that she was staring right at him. Noticing his gaze was probably on her, she offered a smile. "What are you doing standing up over there, have a seat." The girl was young looking and was about 5'4", although it was hard to see with her sitting down. The girl's hair was white and cut into a bob that reached her jawline, with two strands of hair slightly longer than the rest, and dyed a light blue. Her eyes were an emerald green, with a small mole a little below her left eye. Since the moment he had seen her, she seemed to have had a smile on her the entire time.

She wore a traditional kimono with the main colour being black. Although it wasn't a solid black, as several white flowers and petals adorned the kimono. The collar and sleeves were of a greyer colour. Barely visible under the sleeves, was a watch. The obi sash tied around her was several different colours, all from the multitude of flowers that were on it. Ranging from blue, to pink, all the way to red. The sandals she wore were traditional geta in white wood. Lastly, she had a white hibiscus clip attached neatly in her hair on the side.

"You should take off your hood too." She added after a bit of silence. "I can't see your face if you don't do that."

For a second, he almost followed her instructions, but he stopped himself. "I'd rather not…" He glanced away. Not much could be noted from this man's appearance, given it was all obscured. He was a rather short person, only standing at 5'0". He wore a large black cloak with golden trims. Underneath, he wore a white shirt with black pants underneath. For shoes, he had on some black boots. Pinned to his cloak, was a silver star brooch. Lastly, around his neck, was a pendant in the shape of a dove. His face was cloaked in shadow thanks to how he was wearing his hood over his head. Lastly, he wore a watch around his wrist.

The girl refrained from frowning, instead, offering him a seat. "Alright, you don't have to show me how you look, but you should still take a seat. I already tried looking around, but found nothing."

So there was no point in searching the surrounding area? Taking her advice, he sat across from her. "How long have you been awake for?"

She hummed to herself in thought, thinking back. "Only about ten minutes. But there was still plenty of time to look around. Since there's nothing we can do, I don't think we should fret too much." With her, she had a cup of tea she would sip from occasionally.

Her presence was calming. "Right…" He had only woken up a few minutes ago, so he had a ton of questions in his head. But worrying too much wouldn't cause either of them any good. She seemed like a lovely girl.

"So." She spoke up again. "Since we've both found ourselves here, it would be rude to not at least get to know each other." And since she proposed the idea, she would be the first to introduce herself. "You may call me Winter Hibiscus, and if you want to know my standings, I'm the Ultimate Love Guru. Willing to help with any of your romances."

A love guru… wait, that wasn't the important part. "An… Ultimate?"

Putting her cup of tea down, she continued smiling at him. "Yes. Haven't met any of those before?"

"I haven't, no." He turned his head to the side. But now, it was time to introduce himself. "Michael." He offered nothing else.

Cocking her head to the side, Winter hummed out. "No last name? Just giving me a first name…"

The boy glanced down at the table. "It's best if I don't reveal that part. The first name should do fine."

Well, he had a point there. As long as she knew what to call him, there wasn't any harm. But still, the mystery behind it. "Something important about your last name? If I had to guess, you must be someone with a higher standing?"

"Huh?" He seemed a bit taken aback by this.

She pointed to his cloak. "That sort of attire seems rather expensive. Especially with the pendant." She took a sip of the tea. "You must be from a rather rich family, if I had to guess."

He avoided asking the question, instead, turning his body to the side.

Seems she might have hit it on the nail. "Furthermore…" She still had more to say. "Given you elected to not share your last name, you might belong to a well known family." She tilted her head to the side again.

Letting out a sigh, Michael spoke up. "Something like that… I don't really want to talk about it."

If he didn't want to be pressed, that was fine. She was just happy to know she was pretty much right. "That's fine by me." After a bit, she stood up. "Alright, I think that's enough sitting around for now." She eyed the area around her. "I know I said I took a look around, but it was a basic one." She held up her tea cup. "It's where I found this."

Which meant… there were still some spots that hadn't been checked. "Then, you haven't checked if we could leave?"

"Oh, we definitely can't leave. That was the first thing I tried." She stepped away from the table, looking around the room. Turning back to look at Michael, she offered the same smile. "Would you want some tea?"

"I…" There was no reason for him to decline the offer. Besides, it beats having nothing. "Yes. Please. I would love some tea."

She bowed her head before moving over to get him some tea. "Anything you like in particular? There's a lot of variety here."

"Anything will do…" In the meantime, he was going to look around the various tables. He was bound to find something of value… hopefully.

And right he was, because after moving through the various tables… he found something he didn't think Winter had even noticed. "Is that…?" As he got closer to examine it, he felt himself freeze up. "B-blood?"

"Huh?" She had definitely not seen anything like that. Placing the cup down, she went to investigate. "When did…?" She still tried to keep up her smile, but it was wavering. ."Why would blood be here?"

From the looks of it, it looked like it had dried up. "It's old blood…" He noted. He would have touched it directly to see how dry it was, but he didn't want to touch blood. "Not sure how old, though…"

Well, that seemed to have ruined the entire atmosphere. "Maybe we should just stop looking around before we find more things we don't want to see."

While he didn't want to see blood, he wanted to make sure nobody had been hurt. Then again, there was nobody else in this room, so it was highly unlikely. "Yes. Let's go back to doing what we were doing." He would just have to keep this in mind for the future.

Moving back over to where Winter was before, he saw his cup of tea waiting for him. He was unsure how he felt about her preparing the tea for him, but she just seemed like a nice person. "You're a nice person." He noted.

"Hmm?" Well, she liked to hear that. "I just got some tea ready. I fail to see how that's praise worthy. You're the only person here with me, so might as well make use of the company. I doubt you're the reason I'm stuck here."

That is true. Michael tried to take a sip of the tea, but it was a little too hot, so he moved it away from his mouth. But the aroma was nice, so he knew he'd like the flavour. "Why are we here…?" He finally asked.

Winter cocked her head to the side. "I asked myself that question too several times. But thinking about it wasn't helping. If someone put us here, they'll meet us eventually. Besides, none of the doors seemed to work."

Speaking of doors… There were a total of three different doors. Only one was different. "What's that door over there?" He pointed off to the distance.

"Hmmm? An elevator of some kind. However, I'm afraid it doesn't work. I tried getting it to open, but it seems inactive."
Interesting… So much stuff could be beyond those doors. But with no way to open them, they were pretty much just forced to sit here and wait…

---

?

"Behold!" The voice of a girl called out, striking a pose while holding something. "The greatest show you'll ever see!" There was a long pause. "While trapped in this room!" She added in after the fact. The item she had been holding in her hand was a knife. She twirled it around a bit before chucking it at the target that was carved into the wall.

As predicted, it landed perfectly in the center of the target.

The boy who had been watching the entire time cracked a smile. "An expertise in knives, that's pretty fun." Definitely the most fun they could have in a place like this.

The girl made her way over to the target to retrieve her knife. Once she had it back in her possessions, she twirled it around her fingers, closing her eye. "It's one of the many skills I have." Tossing the knife towards the boy, it stuck itself right into the counter.

He made no attempt to move when he saw the knife coming at him. If the girl was able to make a throw like the first one, she could surely not butcher him in the process. Leaning on the counter, resting his chin on his hand. "A line of work like this is exciting, isn't it?"

Instead of retrieving the knife she had thrown. This time, she simply pulled out another one. "Exactly!" The girl stood at 5'7" and had a very slim build. She had long silky deep onyx hair that stopped shortly after her neck. She wore a waterfall braid over the back of her hair. She had small bangs that seemed to be swept towards the side to cover her left eye. Over her right eye, she was wearing a black eyepatch. Her left eye was purple.

For the outfit she was wearing, she wore a silver halter top with an unzipped dark purple jacket over that. Next, she was wearing a vertically striped dark purple and light purple skirt with black tights. For shoes, she had purple sneakers with white laces. She wore onyx coloured earrings, matching her hair colour. The shape of the earrings were a teardrop shape. Her nails were painted a dark purple. Around her wrist was a watch. Lastly, while she wasn't actively using it, she also had a purple and white long cane. Similar to one a blind person would use.

"You know, I've been meaning to ask." The boy spoke up, his eyes landing on the cane she had. "What's that for?"

She picked it up off her hip, twirling it around in a similar manner to how she would with the knives, although with added difficulties. "Oh? This? I don't really use it, but I keep it along with me in case my vision gets too bad."

Slowly nodding his head, he understood the implication that she might be legally blind. That only made the knife throwing even more impressive in his mind. The boy stood at only 5'5", although from his sitting position, it was hard to gauge the height. He had an average slim build. For hair, he had some short length pink hair, with the bangs covering his right eye. He had tanned skin, and eyes that matched his hair colour, being pink again.

For his outfit, he had a red t-shirt with various card designs on them, most notably the ace of spades. Around his neck, was a rather long black scarf that reached his hips. He had a watch on his wrist. On his left cheek, he wore a bandaid to cover up a scar that was just barely peeking through. He wore a pair of black ripped jeans, and lastly, he had blue sneakers. "To pursue something like that even still." He knew a thing or two about risk. "I like the way you think."

Having switched back to holding her knife, she chucked it to the side, landing it right in the bowl of fruit, more precisely, an apple. "My vision isn't that bad." At least not that he could prove. "Why stop my talent because of that? If I had been unfit for this, they wouldn't have made me the Ultimate Knife Thrower!" She said with flair in her voice.

The boy raised an eyebrow at the declaration. "You're an ultimate?" His mostly neutral expression formed into a smile as he was figuring out just what kind of person he was stuck with. Now it was time to put on some form of show. Pulling out the deck of cards he had in his pocket, he began to shuffle them. "Then it seems we have more in common than I would have thought of originally." Shuffling the cards around, he laid them flat on the table. "For you see, I'm also an Ultimate. The Ultimate Gambler, that is."

"Oh?" She moved over to the table. "What makes you an ultimate gambler? Is it the luck you have, or the tricks you pull?"

"Tricks?" He laughed a bit, shaking his head. "I assure you there's no tricks I pull. Cheating isn't part of my talent. I just play better than everyone else. It's not just about luck, there's many things that go into it. Care to play a game?"

As tempting as that would normally be, she shook her head. "A game sounds fun, but I fear I won't be a good opponent." She pointed towards her eyes. "I'd have a hard time seeing what some of the cards said."

That was disappointing, but he couldn't force her to play if she couldn't even see the cards. Grabbing his cards again, he began to shuffle them again. "Still, to think they'd let you become an ultimate."

She placed a hand on her hip, pointing at him. "Of course they would!" She raised her hand in the air. "Just because my vision isn't what it used to be, doesn't mean I've lost my edge. I've sharpened it endlessly for all these years."

"Talent can run out." He dealt himself a hand as if he was playing with someone else. "Just like luck can run out." He eyed her over. "Eventually, you just have to accept what life has dealt you, or else someone is going to get hurt."

She stopped posing for a moment, slowly lowering her arm. "And… What makes you so sure someone is going to get hurt?" She frowned slightly, losing the flamboyance she had the entire time.

Raising an eyebrow as he looked at his own cards. Pair of sevens. How lucky. "I can at least applaud the risk you're taking." He looked over at her, a smile on his face. "But know that they are just that, risks. It always has the chance of ending badly. Never too late to call it quits." He put his cards down.

Then, something dawned on her. "Hey. We never fully introduced ourselves, didn't we?"

He thought for a moment before realising they only ever spoke about their talents. "Yeah, I guess so." Guess he just was always thinking about it that he didn't even notice.

To set things straight, the girl went first to deliver her full introduction. "While I'm known by my stage name, Luna, my real name is Tatiana Novak, fierce performer of the Yorke Troupe!" She declared proudly.

"Oh, so you are from the circus." He just didn't want to say it out loud. Shuffling his cards one last time and putting them away, the boy stood up. "I'm known by something else too. Many have grown to call me the Demon Gambler, but Ian Santiago works just as well."

"Ah, so you too like having another name." That was respectable. "Makes it a bit more dramatic, don't you think?"

Standing up from the chair that he had been sitting on, he looked over at her. "Yes, but our second names were received in different manners. Yours was likely given to you before you performed, while mine was given to me by everyone I've faced. I think mine holds more weight."

Was he trying to make it a contest? Taking a step forward, she extended her arm out. "Well, the world knows me as Luna, while I've never heard of the Demon Gambler before!"

Letting out a small laugh, he shook his head. "I could say the same." Either way, he knew he had won. "Shouldn't we be focusing on a way out." And since he won, he was able to carry the conversation to somewhere else.

Placing a hand on her hip, Tatiana looked around the kitchen. "The only way out is the door, and it doesn't even have a handle to open it."

That was true, which meant that they would be stuck here. He reached over for the apple that had been the victim of a knife previously. Weighing it around, it seemed real. "I don't mind, at least we have some food." He took a bite out of the apple.

That was true. They could have found themselves in a much worse scenario. Still, she didn't like the idea of being stuck here. "You there!" She pointed upwards in the corner when she spotted something. She assumed it was a camera, and if she was wrong, Ian could call her out on it. "You can't keep us here forever!"

Ian took a look at what she was looking at. It was a camera! But he wasn't going to tell her that. Instead, he was just going to focus on the apple he had taken.

---

?

A humming voice could be heard coming from a girl as she inspected the various objects around the room. She wasn't alone, but her curiosity had gotten the best of her. "What do ya think all of these are for?" She had looked through most of the items that were on the shelves around her.

The only other person in the room, hadn't bothered to move from the spot he had been in from the start. Instead, he had opted to lean against the wall, watching her move around. "I'm not quite sure." Although he hadn't made a move to investigate anything. "When it comes to things like that, it isn't my specialty." Instead, he chose to watch her walk around and inspect everything else.

The girl had medium length dark black hair that ended just above her shoulders. The hair itself was styled in a 1920's chignon bob look with some strands of hair left loose. Her eyes were an expressive dark green colour, with winged black eyeliner and smokey black eyeshadow. She had a chestnut brown skin complexion. She had pale red glossy coloured lips. She had freshly manicured nails that were painted black, gold, and white diamond striped accents. She stood at 5'7".

For her attire, the style seemed to match the era her hair came from, given it was a 1920's style midi flapper sleeveless v-neck black dress. At the front end of the collar, there was a bow. The bow, v-neck collar line and the thin belt around her waist all shared the same pure white colour. On the lower half, she wore black ankle socks with black and white oxford shoes. Around her neck, she was wearing a pearl necklace. She also had a pair of earrings composed of three black circles. She wore a white flapper jewelled headband with a swirly white flower headpiece attached. On her left arm, she had a diamond gold rectangular wristwatch. As for her other wrist, she wore a diamond studded bracelet with a heart shaped latch. Not only that, but on the same right arm, she also wore a different watch.

"What do you suppose all these trinkets are for?" She lifted up a picture frame, but she didn't recognise the two people in it.

Taking one last look around, the man shrugged. "Seems to be some kind of office of some sort." Not that he would be able to figure out more than without some extra information. Stepping away from the wall, he adjusted his clothes. He was a tall man, standing at 6'2". He had medium-length, shaggy dark blue hair with long bangs parted to the right side of his face. This would cover one completely covering his right eye, leaving only one of the red eyes visible. On his left ear, he had a silver hoop earring. Next, he had a black star tattoo on his left cheek.

His regular outfit consisted of a dark blue cardigan with the buttons undone, revealing a plain black t-shirt underneath it all. Around his arm was a watch. For his pants, he wore a pair of slim-fitting black jeans, and lastly, he had on some white converse shoes.

Keeping his hands in his pockets, he began to walk over to the girl. "Since we've both found ourselves in this strange situation, why don't we introduce ourselves?" He took his hand out of his pocket to shake her hand.

She had no problem returning the favour. "It's nice to meet ya, sir."

After the handshake was done, he brought his hand back to his side. "I'll go first. The name is Gennosuke Yagami." To add a bit of dramatic air to him, he brought his hand up almost like he was trying to focus on something mystical. "And through my powers, I've earned myself the title of the Ultimate Psychic."

"Psychic?" That seemed to catch her attention. "Now then, that's not something you see everyday. Although, I guess with Ultimates, anything is possible."

Looking at her for a few seconds, he cracked a smile. "I guess you're familiar with Ultimates, if you didn't even question that part. You must be one yourself."

"Huh?" How did he know? Oh right! "Did you read my mind?"

Placing his hands near his head, he began to grow deep into thought. "Yes, I did. You aren't actively hiding things, so I'm able to pierce your mind." After a few seconds, he lowered his hand and smiled at her. "The Ultimate Tap Dancer, huh?"

Having completely ruined her own intro, she was completely caught off guard. For a moment, she thought that maybe he might have been some kind of con-man, and yet, here he was. "Amazing, that's really the bee's knees."

It was the first time in a long time he ever heard that phrase. "You must love stuff from that era, huh?"

She nodded her head. "Yes, the roaring 20's were a lovely time." She began to move around, almost as if dancing. "If I could have been born any other time, it would be then. The people were joyful, the streets were bustling. Everyone was out there having the best time of their lives." She stopped dancing when she realised something. "I haven't even given you my name." Adjusting herself to stand up straight, she looked up at Gennosuke. "I'm Melody Eleanor Hopkins, pleasure to make your acquaintance." After looking at him for a bit longer, her smile only grew in size. "You really are an interesting fella, y'know?"

"Hmm? In what way?" He had gone back to leaning against the same wall from earlier. He glanced over in the direction of the door, but it didn't seem like it was going to be possible to leave anytime soon.

"Well, most people like that are grifters who aim to rob people with lies." She kept moving around the room, still trying to get a bit of dance in. "But for you to guess my talent, you must be the real deal."

The psychic let out a small laugh. "It wouldn't be the first time someone has doubted my talents. But all it takes is a few seconds and I'm able to convince them." He looked up at the ceiling. "I don't mind, however. It's nice to show people what I can do." Eyeing her a bit longer, he tilted his head to the side. "Sure love dancing, don't you?" He flashed a smile. "You don't even know where we are, and yet you can't stop."

For a moment, Melody stopped, realising that it could be an annoyance. "Oh! Well, dancing is what I normally always do." She adjusted her dress. "I believe more people should dance, it'll help express themselves more." She took a step out, extending her hand out to him. "Care to join me?"

Looking at her hand for a few seconds, he shook his head. "Never danced before." He looked back at the door.

Having gotten no follow up, she frowned a little. "You can't just keep a dame hanging like that."

After a bit more silence, he finally offered another response. "Can't say I'd be any good at it. I'd probably just get in your way."

Ah, so this is what it was about. Her expression only grew brighter. "Ah, that's no way to think about this!" She took another step forward, offering her hand again. "Not everyone is a master, ya follow? I didn't start out perfect like I am now. But my will to follow my dream is what got me here."

"A dream huh." He reached out into his pocket and pulled out a lollipop still in the wrapper. After he had unwrapped it, he had put it in his mouth, almost like a cigarette. He flashed a smile her way. "You know, you really are just a bubbly girl. Reading your mind was a joy and was almost enough to inspire me." After looking at her hand for a few more seconds, he figured he might as well. "Tell you what, I'll dance with you for a minute or so."

That's exactly what she wanted. "Thank you fella."

However, before they could even begin to dance, the moment was ruined when the door opened.

Both parties froze up, their focus entirely locked on the door.

"Huh." He pulled out the lollipop. "Well never mind I guess." His expression went back to the normal confident one. "We should go check out just where we are."

Melody was a bit disappointed from being robbed of dancing with someone else, however her curious mind more than made up for it. "Right behind you."

When did he become the leader of this duo? He gave her a look before shifting his attention back over towards the door. Sticking the lollipop back into his mouth, he took a step forward. "Just where do we find ourselves…" He mumbled out.

---

?

Finally, after so long, Gemini found something that would help him in his escape. "I found a screw." He lifted himself up onto his feet.

"Doors open." Dolly called out, nonchalantly.

He almost let it fall to the ground. "Huh?" He blinked a few times.

She shrugged. "Doors open. It opened a few seconds ago."

So… just waiting would have been fine. Letting out a sigh, he shook his head. "Alright, guess we could have just gone and done that. Let's go then." He was almost disappointed that waiting was the solution. Then again, his streak of never being trapped somewhere was still solid. He found a way out! The door!

Stepping out into the hallway, the trio looked around. "Do you recognise this place?" Gemini mumbled out.

Dolly quickly shook her body to the side. "Nope. Never been here before. Nor has master. Unless he's not telling me things!" She turned to look at him, but he remained expressionless.

The escapist was going to say something else, but then he heard it. Walking. "You hear that?" He looked over in the distance, before finally encountering the source.

Laki had been skipping around, eyeing all the things. "Isn't this new place exciting?" She called out to Lorelei, who decided to follow her for mild entertainment. When she finally noticed where she was going, she finally spotted the trio. "Oh! New people!" She waved over at them.

The computer specialist looked over at the direction Laki ran off to and spotted the trio. "More people?" Well, might as well see what they want.

Gemini took a step forward to look at the two approaching them. "And you are?" He just wanted to be sure.

"Laki!" She raised her hands in the air.

Dolly looked at her for a few seconds. "Well, we're Laki to meet you!" That's the best she could come up with.

"Hey!" This got a bright smile on the girl. "I love that. This doll is the best!"

Finally approaching the group, Lorelei spotted Benjamin in the back. "What's his deal? He looks like a total creep."

In response, Dolly blocked off her view to Benjamin. "Don't speak to master like that!"

"Pfft!" They had to cover their mouth. "Master? Are you for real?"

Well, things sure got interesting quick. "Are you in the same situation as us?" Gemini looked amongst the two girls. "If you are, then we should probably find a way out of here quickly."

Laki had moved up closer to move the doll around, who was yelling at her the entire time. Hearing him speak, though, she spared him a glance. "Why's that? I'm having so much fun here. A lot of interesting people!" She trailed off. "And Lorelei."

"Listen here, bitch."

The escapist was going to say more, but he heard another set of footsteps. "There's more people." And that's when they were greeted by the second duo.

"Hmm…" Gennosuke hummed out, seeing the group of four… five? Does he count the doll? "So there's more people." He smiled as he approached the group. "We were worried it was just going to be us two stuck here forever."

"Good day." Melody greeted the group before her eyes fixated on the doll. "Oh, wow, what wonderful craftsmanship."

Meanwhile, Dolly was busy looking over at the psychic. "Well, he's something."

"H-huh?" The tap dancer wasn't sure what she meant by that, and simply glanced in his direction. "Yes, he's amazing. He was able to read my mind to guess my talent."

"Woah!" Laki quickly moved over to him. "What's mine? What's mine?"

Gemini surely found himself with an interesting group. "Let's not overcrowd him." But he had to admit, he was hooked too. Someone who can read minds? That would be cool to see in action.

"Sounds like bullshit." Lorelei spoke up, placing a hand on her hip. She had a smug look on her face. "Those types of people are nothing but frauds."

Gennosuke rubbed the back of his head, a bit disappointing. "Yeah, I get that a lot. But I can tell you, I'm the real deal. All those others? Those are the fake ones."

Well, one girl got a bright idea. "Just have him guess your talent, then." Laki moved over towards the short girl. "Then if he's wrong, you can point out his lies."

Contemplating her choices right now, she shook her head. "As if I'd offer him even a chance to guess that." She placed her hands in her coat pockets. "Besides, it feels like we're wasting time right now."

"Time?" Melody repeated. "What time would that even be? I don't believe we need to be anywhere at the moment."

Where they needed to be… that thought was on Gemini's mind. "We haven't figured out why we're here. So let's focus our attention on that."

"Well…" Gennosuke pulled the lollipop out of his mouth. "There was another way we could go back the way we came."

"Right!" The tap dancer pointed over the direction they had just come from. "We had a split path when we left the door, so we decided down this path." Honestly, she wanted to explore both paths anyways. But given that she didn't want to separate from Gennosuke, she had gone down the same path as him.

That was a start. "Alright." Gemini took a step forward. "Let's head back and see what we find." So far there were six people plus a doll. More people than he was used to for an escape, but as the expert here, he wasn't going to let them down.

After a bit of walking, Lorelei was the first to speak up. "How are you so sure there's even a way out?"

"Hmm?" The escapist glanced over at her. "There's always a way out. There was a way in, so."

What kind of dumb logic was that? "Not if the way out is locked. We were locked in rooms, so who's to say the same won't hold true for the rest of the place?"

He considered his own logic, before shaking his head. "No, there's always a way out." He added again. "We'd just need to find the key, or even bust down the door."

"Oh! Oh!" Laki spoke up. "If you need to bust down a door! Use me!"

"What, like a battering ram?" Dolly suggested.

That hadn't been what she meant, but she wasn't going to let such a suggestion go to waste. "Yes!" Her eyes sparkled.

"Hey…" Gennosuke brought the conversation apart. "Don't you hear those sounds?"

It sounded like… voices… "Yeah." Gemini took a step forward before something caught him completely off guard. It sounded like a blast of some kind. "What the…?"

Everyone else froze up, except for Laki who ran off to explore the danger. "Come on guys!" She called out for everyone else.

"W-wait!" Gemini tried to stop her, but decided he couldn't just let her run into danger herself. "Alright, let's follow her."

Everyone else ran behind, except Lorelei, who stood back. "This sounds like a suicide mission! Have fun!" But then she realised staying alone in this strange place was also a suicide mission. So she followed behind anyway. Slowly. So in case there was danger, they'd be the first to die.

---

?

The sound of the door opening alerted the two people in the room that they could now escape.

"I knew it!" Tatiana blurted out, turning towards the door. "Finally, they intend on releasing us!" She wasn't going to let this opportunity slip by her.

Ian watched her leave. Making sure he had all of his belongings, he followed her out.

When the two stepped out, they were greeted by another group of two.

"Hmm?" Winter hummed out, looking over from the station her and Michael were standing by. "Seems we have some guests now." That was nice. People whose faces she could actually see.

"More…?" The hooded man mumbled out. "Were you locked in there?"

Ian moved past Tatiana to get a better look at the room. "More or less. We've been in there for about half an hour." Sticking his hands in his pockets, he turned his attention back to the two that were already in the room.

Winter put down her cup, turning towards the other door that opened. "It seems like the rest of the place has opened up for us as well. But…" She trailed off, looking at the last door that still remained unexplored. "The elevator might be operational now."

Since Ian was the closet, he moved over towards the door. "An elevator, huh?" He had no care when he pressed the button. It reacted, but the elevator didn't seem to move. "It's busted."

"A shame." Which meant they only really had one way to go. "Do you all want to leave this room as well?"

MIchael thought for a moment before answering. "We might as well… There's nothing for us here." He turned towards the other two. "Did you come from the kitchen?"

"Yeah, we did!" Tatiana responded. "But nothing was working, so we didn't bother to look into anything."

Ian moved over towards the three of them. "Nothing fun here, so I'm hoping to go see what else we can find."

"I think you should all stay right here." A voice called out. It was the voice of a girl, but the source was unknown.

All four were left looking around frantically, before Tatiana spotted the source first based solely on sound. "Above?" Once her eyes landed on the person floating in the air, she jumped back slightly. "What the-" She questioned for a moment at what she was seeing.

In the air above them, there seemed to be a person floating. The only other indication that they were even there other than sight was the sound their machine was making. "Everyone should be making their way here shortly. There's no reason to leave this area."

Michael spent a few seconds looking at her, trying to discern any details… But she was still too far up. "Are you going to come down?"

"No. I think I like it better up here." The girl called out.

Shaking his head, Ian made his way towards the door. "I'll be right back, there's something I need to look for." Before he got very far, the sound of a blaster going off could be heard. He was quick at reacting, and he avoided the blast that landed right where he would have stepped. "What the…?" He turned towards the girl, who now seemed to be wielding something.

"I said, I think it's best if you stay here for now."

Michael was the first one to speak up. "I think it's best if we listen to what she has to say." He didn't want to, but he also didn't want to defy the person with a gun.

"Is she trying to kill us?" Tatiana had her hand on her knife now. "Should we do something about that?"

Ian had already thought of an idea. "Do you think you could take her out with a knife?"

"H-huh?" The knife thrower was caught off guard. "I'm not going to throw a knife at her." She wasn't sure if she could make a throw that far and that high up. Especially with her conditions. "If I throw something at her, I'll get blasted before the knife even lands."

"Also I can hear you." The girl called out.

That was also a fair point. Deciding to drop it, Ian moved over towards the tables. He wasn't about to make a gamble he couldn't win, and it seemed like Tatiana wasn't going to take the shot like he wanted her to. "When will the next group show up?" He raised an eyebrow.

The flying figure did not answer.

"I think we should just wait." Michael moved over towards one of the benches, away from Ian. "Doing anything now would be pointless."

Sitting down next to him was Winter. "I agree. There's other people too, so."

Still, a bit of unease filled Tatiana at the moment. "I'm not sure how much I like being stuck in a room with someone with a gun." Especially when she could barely see them up there. But she also didn't want to do anything risky, so she sat down at the table.

The rest of the group also just stood by in silence, given they didn't really have any other choices on the matter.

Suddenly, footsteps could be heard. Almost like they were in a hurry. "Oh." Winter glanced over at the door. "Seems they're arriving."

Now that everyone could hear it, they all turned to face the direction that the sounds were coming from.

That's when they were graced by the presence of the last six people.

"We're here!" Laki announced herself.

"Huh?" Gemini looked over at the group of four. "There were more people this entire time." He took a step into the room. Guess that Gennosuke was right.

The rest followed behind him.

"We aren't warning them, right?" Ian turned to look at the rest of his group. However, his attention was completely overtaken when he glanced back at the group of six again. "..."

"Woah!" Laki called out, her attention stolen away by something in the air. "That girl is flying."

"Huh?" Dolly looked up. "First a psychic, and now a flying person? It's turning into a circus act here!"

Raising an eyebrow, Lorelei turned to look at the doll. "Aren't you already a circus act?"

"Hey!"

Tatiana struck a pose hearing the word circus. "Well allow me to bless your presence as well, then, for I am also a circus act!"

Gemini's eyes had been transfixed on the figure the entire time. "They're coming down." He finally stated. But it was at such a low rate that it might take another minute.

"Tatiana, get your knives ready." Ian spoke up, having broken away from his staring.

She seemed annoyed at the idea again. "I told you I'm not doing it. Hitting something flying in the air is much harder than you seem to think it is. Besides, I intend on not getting shot." She twirled her knife around her finger before trying to hand it off to him. "You're always free to take a crack at it."

As good as an idea that was, he was going to need to decline.

Now that the rest of the group had entered the room.

"So." Gennosuke finally spoke up, looking at the flying girl. "What's her deal?" He didn't seem worried.

"Probably whoever put us here." Michael spoke up, not bothering to look at everyone else. "She tried to shoot one of us for leaving the room."

Hearing that, Laki was all for it. "Oh! Shoot me! Shoot me!" Her pleas were ignored.

"What kind of gun was it?" Gemini was going to try and get as much information as possible.

"It wasn't your ordinary gun." Tatiana revealed to him. "A blaster."

Blaster? He wasn't aware that those were even made yet. The escapist looked over at the girl who had almost completely lowered herself down. "What's your name?" Asking a question nobody else bothered to ask.

"I'll answer that shortly." Finally, she landed on one of the tables, clutching the gun tightly. On her face she wore an electronic space helmet. Instead of the regular space helmet visor, it was replaced with a screen that displayed a face. It showed a digital version of eyes, one normal, with the one on the left being a jagged green colour. Sticking out of the top of the helmet was an unlit fuze.

Her outfit was a futuristic looking dress, with the skirt stopping above her knees. The upper part was white, with the actual skirt portion being pink. On the upper portion, on the left side, there was the same jagged shape as her eyes, but this time in pink. The dress had no sleeves, so her arms were visible. However, she was wearing two white gloves. On her back, she had what appeared to be a backpack, but on further inspection, it was a solid black jetpack. Which would explain what was keeping her afloat the entire time. Lastly, she wore knee high boots divided into two colours, following the colour of her dress. The lower portion of the boots were pink, while the upper portions were white.

In their hand, they held the very blaster that they used only moments ago. It pulsated an alarming green from an oval shaped compartment placed on top of the blaster. Two tubes of the same colour stuck out of it, fusing into the barrel of the blaster. The main portion of the blaster was pink, with the handle being white.

"There." She spoke up again. "Now everyone is here. At least for now."

That last part ran through Gemini's head. "Are there going to be more later?"

Just when it didn't seem like she would answer, she provided the answer anyway. "Yes, another group shall be joining us shortly, which is why we should be quick about this." She put her blaster away, seeing it not fit to keep around.

Now that there was a moment of pose, Winter spoke up. "Are you not going to introduce yourself? It seems a bit rude to not do so."

The space girl shook her head. "I'm not in the habit of introducing myself twice, so I'll wait till the others get here. Instead, I will tell you all about your situation right now. Do any of you happen to know where you are?"

Thinking about it for only a moment, Gemini responded. "A containment facility of some kind? All the walls are metallic, so." Incorrect buzzer noise. "Alright, guess not."

"Well, that knocks out prison as well, I'm guessing." Gennosuke placed his hands in his pocket. He spent a few seconds looking at the girl, but he couldn't figure anything out. Turning to the others, he spoke up. "Got any bright ideas?"

Extending an arm out, Tatiana spoke up. "Clearly this has something to do with Hope's Peak! I'm guessing this is the new building the school will be held in." Incorrect buzzer noise.
"Oh! Oh!" Laki blurted out, having figured out the best answer. "A containment facility!" She didn't bother playing a buzzer for that one.

"Didn't I just…" Gemini shook his head. "What was your idea here?"

Crossing her arms, a bit of confidence in her smile. "Well I thought if we answered the same thing, she would just give up and tell us the answer."

"I'll just tell you the answer." Seems they weren't going to get it.

"See!?"

Taking a deep breath, she uttered one word. "Space."

"Yes, it is very roomy here." Dolly responded, pointing out the sheer size of the cafeteria.

Shaking her head, she tried again. "No. I mean we are currently in space. This is a space station."

"S-Space…?" The knife thrower mumbled out. "How did we end up here?"

"The answer to that is obvious, so I don't feel the need to answer it." A smile appeared on her visor before fading away.

Now, this was a bit different than what Gemini was used to working with. "And, how do we get out?"

"You can't. Not yet at least."

Looking around the room, and noticing everyone's nervous expression, Melody spoke up. "What reason have you taken us here?" She was hoping for a good answer.

Glancing over towards the elevator, the space girl shook her head. "I'll explain that later. For now, I just wanted to get the basics of the location out of the way. The other group has probably been informed as well."

That's not the answer she wanted, but she would try again. "Is it at least a good reason?"

There was a bit of silence before she spoke up. "Depends what you classify as good. Good for you? Probably not. But there's some people that this is good for."

Leaning his chin on his hand, Ian was beginning to get more interested with each passing second. "Well, I don't really care if it's good, as long as it's entertaining."

"Yeah!" Laki had moved to sit beside him. "If it's fun, who cares what it is?"

Definitely an eager group. "Well, that's good to hear." Although it still caught her off guard.

"Ignore them…" Gemini let out a sigh. He couldn't understand how anyone could be excited about a situation like this. It's almost as if he found himself in the past. "How big is this station?"

"I'd say it's a pretty decent size. What you have access to right now isn't the entire station." The girl explained.

"And how much did something like this cost?" It was Winter's turn to ask a question.

A question mark appeared on the space girl' visor. "And why would something like that matter to your current situation?"

"I was just curious, that's all, tee-hee." She covered her mouth.

Still, the questions wouldn't end, because Michael was the first one to speak up. "Do you know who we are? Any of us?"

Tilted her head to the side, she responded. "Of course I know who you are. I know who you all are. I made sure to do my research before I did anything. Which means I also know about your past."

Tatiana's mood grew a bit sour. "You know about our past? How would you know that?"

A frown also appeared on Gennosuke's face briefly before his mind gave him an answer. In only a few seconds, it had turned to a smile. "Ah, I see how it is." Bringing his hand over to his head, and thinking deeply, he spoke up to everyone. "It's nothing but a bluff. To gather so much information about us is nearly impossible."

But already, someone countered his point. "Let's not discount it either." It was Gemini. "People are able to read into our past, no matter how much we try to hide it."

"Then…" Michael spoke up. "It's Hope's Peak doing."

Ian twirled a coin around on the table he had been sitting at. "Likely. They are a pretty shady place."

"Huh?" Melody took a step back. "Now how could you be so suspicious of a place of hope like that? So many work hard to achieve their dreams there, myself included."

"Yeah!" Dolly blurted out. "Besides! Why would they put us on this space station!" She turned to look at Benjamin. "We haven't done anything wrong!" After a bit of silence she turned to face everyone else. "Well-!"

"Enough theorising." The girl called out to everyone. "It won't do you any good, and your answers might change when you find out some new things."

At that moment, the sound of an elevator could be heard.

Everyone turned their attention to the previously unusable elevator.

"Oh." Winter said. "That would be why we couldn't use it."

Standing on the elevator, were the rest of the people that would be joining them on this station.

Seeing all these people, Hae-Won frowned. "That's more people than I thought there'd be."

Before anyone could step out of the elevator, Monokawa flew right out, floating to surround the futuristic girl. "Made it just in time." Soon, he began to orbit her.

"There wasn't really any planned time, you know." Her attention then fell to the other group who had joined them. "Welcome. We've been expecting you."

"Yeah, we know." Dae-Hyun stepped out of the cramped elevator. He eyed everyone one by one. At first, he didn't see anything worth much. But when his eyes landed on one person, something almost clicked. But now wasn't the time.

"This should be everyone, right?" Gigi stepped out, but her attention was on the strange looking woman.

Monokawa shrugged. "As long as we don't have anyone crash the party right now, then yes. This is everyone."

"Who could crash the party?" Michael asked.

The otter ignored that question. "But now that everyone is here, it's time for our proper introduction!" As he orbited around her, he slowly began to gain height until he was over her. "The other group knows me already, but I'll introduce myself to you as well. The name is Monoka-"

Before he could finish his name, Edison cut in. "I thought we agreed on lontra canadensis."

"Literally nobody agreed on it." He deadpanned. But he was getting in the way of his introduction. "Monokawa!" No bolding required this time. "As for this lovely girl-"

"I can introduce myself." Turning on the jetpack, she floated back into the air. "You may refer to me as Nova, and I'll be the one running the station while you stay here." As she began to count the participants, a frown appeared on her visor. "Odd, I could have sworn there would be more." The frown quickly faded away, leaving only her eyes like normal. "But no matter, that won't be important right now." She landed back on the table. "I thank you all for joining me today."

Dae-Hyun ran a hand through his hair. "Not like we agreed to any of it."

"Keep telling yourself that." The otter shrugged. "Now, let's tell them all what they're here for!"

"Yes, I was just getting to that." Pulling out her blaster on the off chance there were some intense objectives, she looked at each person individually. "You've all been gathered here for a little game."

"Ohhhh!" Laki seemed bumped up. "What kind of game? Is it the dangerous kind?"

Floating over towards her, Monokawa snickered. "It's the most dangerous game."

Hearing something that sounded familiar, Melody spoke up. "What, like the book?" After thinking about it for a moment longer, she started realising the implication. "Wait a minute…"

Moving over towards her, Monokawa. "Seems someone has done their research."

"The most dangerous game…" May mumbled out. "Killing people."

Hearing that, Benoit began to panic. "Y-you can't be serious!"

Ian leaned forwards on the table, a small smile appearing on his face. "But if it were the case, wouldn't that be fun?"

Gennosuke shook his head. "A killing game seems a bit far fetched, no?" He spent some time looking at Monokawa before shifting his focus over to Nova. "Or is it the truth?"

"There's no way this would be a killing game." Gemini shook his head. "What reason would there be to have one?"

Mixing a new liquid into his flask, Edison spoke up. "Any reason they'd have wouldn't be a good one."

"You all keep making assumptions." Gigi spoke up. "If Nova is the one in charge here, she should be the one to tell us directly what is going on." No use taking the word of an otter. "What does this game entail?"

The space girl looked at her before turning her attention to Monokawa. "They aren't very trusting of you."

Floating around the room on his back, he shrugged. "I'm not sure why. I just ooze charisma. They should trust me without blinking an eye."

Letting an amused sigh, she turned her attention back over towards the group. "What was said was no lie. This game is brutal in nature." She turned on her jetpack again so she could float above the tables, similar to her companion. "You've all been invited to participate in our death game!" She extended her arms out.

"Shit… It really is-" Hae-Won narrowed her eyes. "What the hell… after all of these years."

Atlas took a step forward. "Like hell we'd do any of that. We aren't participating in this damn death game."

There was a bit of silence before Nova's screen went completely blank. "You don't have a choice." Her voice was cold. After a few seconds, her eyes appeared again. "While participating isn't technically mandatory, leaving this place isn't exactly easy. So as much as you might want to avoid it, unless you're staying inside a locked room all day, you aren't going to accomplish that."

"T-There's no way any of this is true…" Benoit mumbled out.

Alan had a panicked look in his eyes. "See? See what I told you? This is what they're going to do to us."

Sakura had her focus on Nova. "And she thinks she's going to be able to run this entire thing without any interference. I don't care if she can fly, she's still a sitting target."

Seeing everyone get riled up, Michael tried to at least calm everyone down. "Hey… Wait… Let's just…" Ah, who was he kidding, he wasn't able to stay calm after all of this either. "But why us? What's the point of any of this?"

"Is it… something we've done?" Seira mumbled out, trying to recall anything.

"No." Monokawa shrugged.

Landing back down, Nova shook her head. "You aren't here because you've committed a sin or anything like that in the past. You're all here because you are Ultimates."

"Hmm?" Winter tilted her head to the side. "All of us?"

"Yes."

Oh. Well that was interesting. The faint smile she tried to keep up eventually turned into an actual one. "Even him?" She pointed over to Michael.

He quickly took a step back. "No, I'm not…"

Soon, the hooded boy would find an otter floating around him. "Lying about what you are, aren't you? Well, who am I to ruin the fun." Monokawa shrugged. "For now, we'll just mark you as the Ultimate ?"

Gennosuke let out a smile, looking over at the hooded boy. "Trying to keep secrets, aren't you?" He lifted his hands up, but not to try and use his psychic powers. Instead, it was like he was showing he'd back off. "I'll respect that. No need to pry on someone like you." Still, he couldn't help but get the general idea.

"Thanks…?" Given that he had no idea who this man was, he had no idea the implication behind what he was saying.

Ian stood up from the table, still smiling from this revelation. While everyone else was seemingly too stunned to talk, he seemed eager. "So, how do we play this game? Can't be a death game without a way to win, right?"

Floating over to him, Monokawa snickered. "Looks like someone is getting into it!" Flipping himself onto his back, he began orbiting the gambler. "Curious. Although, with a talent like that, I can't say I blame you."

"It's easy." Nova spoke up, moving her arm up so she could tap at something. From this angle, the screen on it was now visible. "All you have to do to escape is to kill someone."

"What? There has to be another way to escape!" Gemini called out. None of his escapes involved any of that. He put on a smile. "Trust me, this place won't be able to hold me, no matter how hard you try."

"Hmm…" She spent a few seconds inspecting him. "We'll see about that." Some eyebrows appeared above her head to change her expression to a more eager one.

Since this was technically a game. "Are there any other rules?" Gigi spoke up. "Establishing that should have been what you did first."

Of course! Rules. "There are rules. Just give me a moment." Tapping away at the screen on her arm, eventually the sound of dinging rang across the cafeteria.

All of them coming from the watches everyone was wearing.

"Ah!" Edison tapped away at his watch. "This is what these are for."

Alan adjusted his wrist a bit, trying to fit the watch better onto himself. "I have to say, they're quite uncomfortable."

With the watches being the answer to her question, Gigi quickly moved through the various apps until she found the one she was looking for, labelled Rules. Clicking on it, a projection came out of the watch, displaying all of them for her to read:

.

Rule #1: Participants are welcome to leave the station at their discretion. However, they are on their own when it comes to finding their way back home. Good luck.

.

Rule #2: "Nighttime" is from 10pm to 7am. Some utilities are offline at those times. Please be wary of this.

.

Rule #3: I have given you the option to claim a vacant room to sleep in. While it's recommended to sleep there, it is not mandatory.

.

Rule #4: With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore the station at your discretion.

.

Rule #5: It is forbidden to show your motive app to anyone else, to talk about what might be on it, or to look at someone else's.

.

Rule #7: Anyone who kills a fellow participant and becomes "blackened" will be given an escape pod, unless they are discovered.

.

Rule #8: Once three or more participants have discovered a body, a body discovery announcement will ring across the station.

.

Rule #9: Once a murder takes place, a station trial will begin shortly thereafter. Participation is mandatory for all surviving participants.

.

Rule #10: If the guilty party is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be punished.

.

Rule #11: If the guilty party is not exposed, they alone will be let free, and all remaining participants will be punished.

.

Rule #12: If anyone besides the blackened is punished, everyone else will also be punished.

.

Rule #13: At any point in the trial, if the participants unanimously decides to forfeit their vote, only half the remaining participants will be punished, while the blackened escapes.

.

Rule #14: Please try to not slaughter everyone. Only a maximum of two people can be killed by one person.

.

Rule #15: Violence against Overseer Nova and Monokawa is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras.

.

Rule #16: Failure to comply with these rules will result in Overseer Nova or Monokawa punishing the offender. The two of them must also abide by the rules.

.

Rule #17: Rules may be added, altered, or removed at any time.

.

And boy were there a lot of them. "Hmm…" Noticing something, Gigi glanced over at Nova. "I have a question-"

"Hey!" Atlas blurted out, stopping any question from being asked. "What the hell is this?" He was sitting down on the bench, trying to access his watch, which, unlike everyone else, was around his ankle. "How the hell do you want me to use this?"

Floating over, Monokawa tapped away at the watch. "You could always get someone else to help you out. But I'm not sure what you expected." He shrugged. "This station wasn't built with the idea of being fair to everyone."

Now the menu was loaded up, but he couldn't do anything about it. "How the hell do you want me to use this?"

"Right…" Nova trailed off. "There should be a way to activate voice functionality to your Mono-Watch."

Inspecting it a bit closer, Edison spoke up. "Mono-Watch?" Tapping away at the screen, he activated another app that showed off his profile. "H-hey! There's no reason to specify my height in this." But still, he had only seen hologram technology a few times, and most of it wasn't very successful. To have it be completely functional on a watch was a marvel for sure. "All issues aside, these are well made."

Lorelei rolled her eyes. "This isn't the time to fangirl over a fucking watch. Have you forgotten the situation we're in?"

He had! Putting his arm down, he turned to face Nova. "What constitutes a trial?" He might as well ask a question now.

Tapping away at the screen she had on her arm, a projection appeared out of it. "Like court." The image displayed a room with twenty podiums. "This is where you'll argue about who the killer could be."

Gennosuke let out a sigh. "Is this seriously the only way to get out of here?"

"Well…" She trailed off, glancing away. "There is one more way, but…"

Monokawa flew in front of her. "You're asking too many questions!" Despite it being the first one he asked. "Besides, this is the more interesting route."

Now that most was in order, Nova was getting ready to make her exit. "The game officially starts tomorrow. I have provided you all with rooms on the second floor. Please take the elevator to get to them." She took a quick bow, before flying away out of view.

Everyone in the room was left with an air of uncertainty at what they should be doing now.

"Alright…" Gemini broke the silence, running a hand through his hair. "Let's just take notice of what we have at our disposal." He took a look at his watch, looking through the various apps. "We have quite a bit of functionality with our watches, so let's sort through it."

Having already checked out the first app, Edison spoke up. "The first one is profile. It basically just gives us a summary of who we are. Name, talent, height, all of those details. Might be the best way to introduce ourselves, right?"

Michael shook his head. "I think it would be best if we still introduce ourselves verbally."

"Next up." Gigi moved on. "The rules app as we mentioned before. Seems breaking any of these rules is a cause for punishment. What that means remains to be seen."

"Execution." May spoke up after a long period of silence. She tilted her head to the side. "I'm sure of it."

"E-execution?" Benoit was not having a good day. "If we b-break any of these rules, we die?"

Closing out of the app, Gigi placed a hand on her hip. "All the more reasons they should be enforced."

Having suggested that they go through the apps, Gemini was the next one. "This one is called motive, but I can't seem to open it right now."

"Oh!" Monokawa floated over towards him. "That one isn't important right now, and is currently inactive."

"Besides, opening it now might be a bad idea." The referee pointed out. "Rule #5 prevents us from showing our motives to anyone else."

Moving on to some of the other apps, the next one to speak up was Melody. "This next one is labelled clock." Pressing on it loaded up the current time as a hologram. "Well, that seems self explanatory."

"Might be for the best." Hae-Won glanced around the room. "I haven't seen any clocks here at all, so it's hard to tell what the time is. Might be useful going forward."

"My turn!" Dolly called out, getting everyone's attention. "This one says job."

"Job…?" Gemini repeated. "Why would we have an app like that?"

"GAH! Master!" She freaked out upon seeing the results of the app. "It says you're unemployed! How could you be unemployed!? Who's going to pay for my new clothes?"

Seira decided to take a look for herself. "It says the same for me too."

"Well duh!" Monokawa floated towards the ventriloquist. "You haven't acquired any jobs on the space station yet. To note, however, that these jobs aren't really required. They just might allow someone special privileges in certain rooms." He moved away from him before glancing down at the group. "However, you can only have one job at a time, and there are limited spots. So be wary. You can always quit your job later, but you won't be able to accept a new one right away."

That was a lot to remember for a simple watch.

And lastly, they had one last app. "Station report?" Hae-Won tried to open this one, but there was nothing to report.

"Ah!" Monokawa floated over to her. "You don't have to worry about this one yet."

Raising an eyebrow, Lorelei asked the follow up question. "OK. When do we have to worry about it?"

Snickering at the very thought, Monokawa floated right in front of her face. "As soon as a body drops, that is." Moving away from her, he floated above the rest of the people. "We aren't heartless."

"Aren't you a robot?" Edison pointed out. "Scientifically speaking, robots don't have hearts."

There was a gloomy silence as the otter tried to think of an appropriate response. "There's a locker room on the floor above us, someone please stuff him in there."

"You got it boss!" Laki was ever so eager.

The short boy took a step back. "H-hey wait a second!"

Now that he had put Edison in his place, the otter continued. "While I might be heartless, Nova isn't. The Station Report app is where we will provide information on the victims."

Ah, Hae-Won figured exactly what he meant. "Like an autopsy report?"

"Precisely!"

Seira let out a sigh. "I hope we don't have to use that…"

"Hey." Dae-Hyun called out towards the otter. "Besides that, are there any other uses we should know about these watches?"

"Hmm… Well, they're the way you can travel across this facility." He moved over towards the nearest door, pointing out the scanner. "To open doors, you'll need a scanner to do so."

"Huh…?" Atlas' face slowly contorted into one of rage. "And mine is stuck to my leg?"

The mascot shrugged, a sinister grin on his face. "Well, we tried to put one on your arm, and it just kind of slipped off. We did the best we could."

"But if I slam my leg into it…" The soccer player mumbled out, remembering his painful experience.

Thinking for a moment, Monokawa let out a laugh. "You'll go flying! Good luck getting into any rooms!"

This station really wasn't built for him at all. "What the hell… you bastard… If it weren't for the rules here, you'd be shattered on the floor."

Gennosuke shook his head. "Even if the rules weren't in place, I think you'd lose that fight." He eyed the otter curiously. Couldn't read the mind of a robot, but he could infer the outcome nonetheless. "If it weren't the case, he wouldn't be the one to carry out punishments."

How could he lose to an otter? It didn't make any sense. "Whatever." He backed off again.

"Nova said we had rooms, right?" Gemini decided to shift the subject. "We should check out what those are like. Maybe get some rest?"

"Huh?" Laki didn't seem to like that idea at all. "But we just woke up! Why would we go back to sleep again?"

May spoke up against her. "I think having a nap now is fine. Come back at it with a clear mind."

Ian shook his head. "Are you serious? Just when something like this happens? I'd at least want to see what this place has to offer."

"Then…" Benoit spoke up. He also just wanted to get some rest to try and calm his nerves down. "We could… meet up tomorrow."

Checking the time, Seria spoke up. "It's almost night time right now."

"We meet up tomorrow, and take a look at all the areas we have access to." Gigi suggested. "Whenever the morning period starts."

Gennosuke shook his head. "Hey now, not all of us will wake up at the same time." Like him.

"Then…" Hae-Won trailed off. "We aim for that time, and we start when everyone else gathers."

Looking around the room, it seemed everyone was on the same page. "Alright." Gemini had a faint smile before his attention shifted towards the elevator. "We didn't find anything like rooms, so we can assume they're on the next floor?" He walked over towards it, pressing the button. Given that the elevator hadn't moved floors yet, the doors opened right away.

One by one, the group entered the elevator, leaving a few stragglers behind who weren't ready to head off now. Those who stayed behind were Dae-Hyun, Ian, Laki, Lorelei, and Michael.

"Hmm…" Ian hummed out, watching the group leave. "I think I'll see if we have food available now. I'll go up later."

"I'll do the same!" Laki stuck around Ian, almost as if she just found the coolest person to hang around.

"With the power back on." Lorelei had a few ideas running through her head. "I can probably go check out that room I was stuck in earlier." Then she glanced over to the lucky student. "Hopefully without any unwanted interruptions." The smile on her face faded away.

Dae-Hyun didn't say anything at all to the group. He didn't even offer them a glance as he sat down on one of the benches.

"Stay safe…" Was all Michael uttered as he saw the elevator doors close.

---

While not everyone had entered the elevator at once, even if they did, there would have been tons of room.

As for the group itself. It was quiet. Nobody really wanted to speak up with the new information that was learnt. The one to break the silence was Gemini. "Listen… We aren't really going to listen to what any of them said, right?"

"O-of course not!" Seira was the first to respond. "Why would I ever want to kill someone?"

Edison shook his head. "If we have our basic needs met, then it's fine to live on this station, right? No need to kill someone."

Letting out a small laugh, Gennosuke shook his head. He had been leaning against the wall the entire time. "I'm not too worried. If nobody does something irrational, living here might not be too bad. To not have to work for our basic needs…" He trailed off.

Gigi placed a hand on her hip. "You just sound lazy."

"So what if I am?" He put the minimal effort into a shrug. "You can't say it would be a bad thing to be able to live like this for free. From the sounds of it, we don't even have to keep this station running."

"It's not that easy." Hae-Won spoke up, having spent most of the time looking at the ceiling. "I guarantee if nobody here kills, we'll just be given a reason to. They won't rest until a body drops."

"No, I agree with him." Winter spoke up, coming to defend Gen. "I think as long as things don't escalate, life here wouldn't be so bad. We just need to get to know each other. If we get along, I don't think any of us would have a reason to listen to her."

Gemini shook his head. "Still, I don't intend on staying here. There has to be a way out of here, right?"

"According to rule #1." Gigi didn't even bother looking up the rules again as she had already memorised them. "We can leave at any time. So there's a way out for us."

"Didn't find anything like that." The tattoo artist shook her head. "Granted, we didn't explore everywhere."

"That's what tomorrow is for." Gemini had a smile on his face. "We try to find a way out. I didn't really give the room I was locked in that good of a look."

Dolly raised her hands in the air. "You were on your hands and knees searching for anything to help!"

He covered his mouth to hold in laughter. "Well, I might have done that, but besides that, I didn't give it much else of a look."

"What if we can't leave?"

There was a bit of silence amongst everyone in the elevator as they slowly looked over at who said it, only to see May. She looked at all the stares she was getting before letting out a yawn. "I'm just saying it's a possibility…"

"We won't get anywhere thinking like that." Despite the gloomy atmosphere, Melody still tried to keep up the beats. "Tomorrow will bring us new answers, I just know it."

That was a good thought to have. Gemini's smile only grew bigger. "Exactly. There's no need to worry about anything else."

After a few more seconds, the elevator dinged, and the doors opened up.

Suddenly.

Otter.

Waiting for them on the second floor… Was Monokawa… somehow.

"How the hell did you get up here?" Hae-Won raised an eyebrow. "Is there a secret passage up here?"

The otter shrugged. "Maybe there's just two of me?" He floated away from the elevator, heading directly to the rooms that Alan and Sakura had woken up in ."These are the vacant rooms!" He announced. Looking at them, there seemed to be more than enough rooms for everyone.

"You say vacant…" Winter pointed out. "Do we just claim whatever room we want?"

The otter floated over to the first door. "Exactly! If you scan your Mono-Watch, you should be able to claim one of the rooms as your own."

"Oh." Alan moved out of the elevator, walking over to the room he had found earlier. "I'll take this one."

Sakura walked over to him. "Isn't that the room we were trapped in." She narrowed her eyes.

He shrugged. "I wrote on the wall, so it seems appropriate to at least take the room so nobody else has to."

Seira walked over to one of the doors, checking out the scanner. It had the word "Vacant" in bolded letters. After a few more seconds of consideration, she scanned her bracelet on it. Soon, the words were replaced with her first name. "Oh. So now it will only respond to my bracelet?"

"Exactly!"

"So even this is going to be a pain…" Atlas stood in front of a door, glancing at the scanner. "This one won't blast me away?"

Unsure, Monokawa offered a shrug. "Just try and do it lightly."

Easier said than done. Atlas found it a struggle to lift his leg up without the arms to balance it. "Dammit!" He quickly gave up, and resorted to slamming his watch against the scanner. Just like last time, he felt the shock push him back, but this time he was ready. "Piece of shit!" But now he saw that his name had been registered to the room. "I have to do this every time?"

Monokawa shrugged. "Is it a good time to tell you that there's also a scanner inside the rooms as well?"

Slowly by slowly, he realised just how much of a pain it would be to get anywhere.

"Hey…" Seira took a step forward. "If you need any help, I'd-"

Slamming his leg against the scanner again to open it, Atlas endured the pain before stepping into the room, ignoring what the others had to say.

"Ignore him…" Gemini mumbled out. "We should all choose our rooms now. Not that it means much…"

One by one, everyone would claim their room.

There was some silence as the group just stood by their doors, none wanting to enter their room.

Until Gemini spoke up. "Dumb question, but what's the point of having them be vacant before? Couldn't you have just assigned us rooms?"

"Hmm?" Monokawa floated over towards him, sitting on top of the scanner. "Because these aren't the only rooms you'll have access to. In the future, you might be able to move your room to a different part of the station."

Swirling the liquid inside his flask, Edison spoke up. "But wouldn't it be safer to have the rooms near everyone? In case something happens?"

"Probably." The otter wasn't giving any convincing answers. "In the end, if someone changes their room, it'll be their fault."

"I think it would be best for everyone to stick together." Melody held her hands together. "Besides, it's the closest thing to the elevator."

"Remember." Gigi called out to everyone. "First thing in the morning."

"Oh!" The otter got off the scanner, realising something. "It's almost the night period, I need to go make an announcement." He floated off, leaving the group alone for the time being.

"Come on!" Dolly called out, urging Benjamin to enter the room. "I want to see if we got a good room!" It looked like she almost forced his arm onto the scanner, opening the door. "Oh! Lovely red colour!" She called out as the two entered the room.

After a few seconds, one by one, the rest of the group began to enter into their respective rooms, the door closing shortly after.

A dinging sound could be heard across the entire facility, and soon, Monokawa's voice could be heard. "Hope everyone has had a lovely day today, participants. We have currently entered the nighttime period, which means some functions around the station have been suspended. You are free to wander around at night, but be careful. You wouldn't want to be the fresh body on the station report tomorrow." What followed next was silence. It was ominous.

The first day of hell was about to begin shortly…

---

Woah! Finally finished the second prologue shortly after the first one! Well… Less than a week is shortly in my eyes. I'm not too fast of a writer during the early months. Just wait until the summer when I'm forced to crack out over 60k a month.

Anyways, this concludes the prologue, Cosmic Overture, which was suggested to me by theotakureader101 back on Discord. So shout out to him since I was having a hard time figuring out a prologue name. But that's mostly because I never name my prologues. From here on out, I've got the names handled on my own.

I think this part was much harder to write than the first one, mostly because I knew how I wanted to write most of the Truth characters, while the Ideals were a bit of a different story. Although, in the end, I think I wrote them as best as I could. If there's something off, feel free to tell me about it, I'll try and fix it in the future.

With the prologue finally done, that means I can move into the nitty gritty of this fic and get started with chapter 1… Whenever that may be. I've never written a story of this scale before, so we'll see how we end up doing in the future. But already looking forward to getting to work on the first case, and seeing everyone's theories. I'm aiming for early March to start getting Chapter 1 rolled out. If it's sooner, then so be it.

Speaking of Chapter 1, my good friend SilverMark16 (Creator of the absolute nerd that is Edison) just posted the first part of Chapter 1 of his fic Twisted Tragedy, so you should go check that out. Pretty good!

---

Participants Remaining: 20

---

Edison Thompton - The Ultimate Chemist [SilverMark16]

Benoit Chevalier - The Ultimate Physiotherapist [Epifanio Therion]

Seira Natsume - The Ultimate Astrologist [WolfieRed23]

Winter Hibiscus - The Ultimate Love Guru [Grandma Sue]

Giustina "Gigi" Giulio - The Ultimate Referee [Nekoja]

Gemini Strela - The Ultimate Escapist [secretnobody]

Benjamin Mason - The Ultimate Ventriloquist [NSPunny]

Alan Buteaux - The Ultimate Conspiracy Theorist [zendroxp]

Lorelei Kaiser - The Ultimate Computer Security Specialist [CandleFire45]

Michael ? - The Ultimate ? [Omakin]

Melody Eleanor Hopkins - The Ultimate Tap Dancer [Prince PokePersona]

Kim Dae-Hyun - The Ultimate Talent Manager [oddlyillregular]

Lakshmi "Laki" Krishna - The Ultimate Lucky Student [Sempi]

May Summers - The Ultimate Academic Prodigy [KadachiNova]

Ian Santiago - The Ultimate Gambler [Animeboy15]

Tatiana Novak - The Ultimate Knife Thrower [ExtraMeme]

Atlas Constande - The Ultimate Soccer Player [ComplicatedYetSimple]

Gennosuke Yagami - The Ultimate Psychic [theotakureader101]

Kim Hae-Won - The Ultimate Tattoo Artist [Weekaro]

Sakura Gambino - The Ultimate Security Guard [PROJECT DRAMA]